Welcome to the Mclowd Newsletter, our monthly communication to Investors, Marketplace Professionals and Partners.
Introduction
From inception I have described Mclowd as a Community.
This is not a term that I have used lightly, and reflects a belief that Mclowd needs to take a fundamentally different (Crowd-based) approach if it is to successfully disrupt the funds management industry.
One year ago this week version 1.0 of the free SMSF accounting software went live, and at that time the Community comprised just a couple of software developers and a handful of SMSF Trustees who understood our vision and were prepared to accept the lack of functionality in order to encourage ongoing development.
Today version 2.1 of the accounting Platform went live, a dedicated team of more than a dozen individuals are working on Mclowd around the world, nearly $150m in assets are being managed and the Community has evolved to include:
- Professional service providers in the Marketplace (for whom Mclowd is becoming a valuable and cost-effective channel)
- Partners such as Verus and Lime Actuaries who are integrating their offerings into the accounting software
Just as importantly we are now engaging with channel partners from amongst the accounting and financial planning fraternity who share our vision for driving down the costs of investment administration.
Accounting Platform Update
Version 2.1 is now live, including an update to Editability (with direct links to income and expense screens to allow Users to reverse transactions far more easily).
This week will also see the release of:
- A new Capital Gains Report
- Improvements to Fund Set Up, including opening receivables and liabilities
As always detailed Release Notes are available on the website.
As part of version 2.2, a new Dashboard-style interface is also planned, giving Users a graphical snapshot of their Fund profile (click here for a sneak peek).
If you would like to influence the prioritisation of our efforts please take a couple of minutes to complete this brief Survey.
Marketplace
Erin Mulvey has now been brought into the Team to drive strategy and execution for the Marketplace (across both services and products).
Erin comes to Mclowd with a wealth of experience in the development of online marketplaces, having previously founded capacity-trading platform Loadmax.
Advisory Board
I would like to welcome Des Luplau to the Mclowd Advisory Board.
Des is a financial planner from Perth and his involvement signifies the next stage in the evolution of the Community, one where channel partners take a more active role in terms of governance.
Postscript
This month also marks the public release of BGL’s new cloud-based offering Simple Fund 360, and I would like to congratulate the BGL Team for setting the bar so high.
Like Mclowd, 360 has been built on the Amazon Web Services platform, and like Mclowd the 360 website was built on WordPress, a free web content management system.
WordPress is free because:
- It was built by the Crowd in the Cloud
- It cost WordPress nothing when BGL joined the WordPress user community
In seeking to charge well above marginal cost for its new cloud-based product BGL is in effect asking its clients to be less economically rational than BGL itself was when it developed its own website.
As Jeremy Rifkin describes in his new book, we are entering a zero marginal cost society, and in that context the pricing strategies of BGL (and all its peers, including Class Super) are simply not sustainable.
Thanks again for all the support we have been receiving for our efforts to improve retirement outcomes for Australians.
Kind Regards
Ashley Porter
Managing Director
Mclowd Pty Ltd